WHITTIER – Dozens of people from all walks of life gathered Saturday to bid their final farewells to a lifelong Whittier-area “gentle giant” who died without a home, but left an indelible mark on the community.

Despite suffering health problems in recent years, friends said they never heard him complain or ask for anything. He suffered from a heart condition, diabetes and sleep apnea.

“His heart was bigger than him,” said friend Pedro Gonzalez of Whittier. “He was just a great guy, and I’m going to miss him.”

Bill and Carol Peppard of La Habra used to own the book-binding business where Griesbach worked for more than a decade. The couple also lived near the Griesbach family when Kenny was a child, and their own children were childhood friends of his.

“He was a really, really good worker,” Bill Peppard said. “You never heard a mean word from him.”

Gordon Galewick said he first met Griesbach five years ago while volunteering at cold-weather shelters. He and his son discovered him dead Monday at a cold-weather shelter being run by St. Matthias Episcopal Church.

“I got to know him really well,” he said. “He would do anything he could for anybody.”

Griesbach’s mother, Billie Griesbach, said when the family moved to North Carolina, Kenny didn’t want to come with them.

After meeting her son’s “second family,” she said, “Now I understand why. Whittier was where he wanted to be.”

Kenny Griesbach is survived by his parents, two sisters, a brother, two nieces, one nephew and four great-nephews and nieces.

Brian Day has covered crime and breaking news for the Southern California News Group since 2007. He’s a graduate of California State University, Fullerton and Cerritos College in Norwalk. He loves dogs and has a pet German shepherd, which in turn, has a pet cat. Brian is a local news junkie, a licensed drone pilot and a part-time science geek with an unfortunate predilection for puns.